How to make a hovercraft

How to make a hovercraft

That you can ride on

Do you wish to travel a long distance? A leaf blower works fine, but one with a power cord attached to an electricity supply socket has a limited range!

To make a hovercraft that you can ride on, you first need to decide how you wish to hover.

Do you wish to hover just on land, or also over water?

If you intend to hover over water, you need to understand about the pressure wave that affects all hovercraft called The Hump. If not, you will get the hump when it becomes difficult for your hovercraft to get air born from an on-water start. Many hovercraft suppliers forget to mention that hovercraft can lift 50% more weight when starting on land – if you try to get started in a lake full of alligators, you need to know your on-water payload – and check that your weight, and passenger weight does not prevent you getting started.

how to make a hovercraft

What is hump?

As the hovercraft moves forward, it pushes water in front into a wave – and needs to get over the wave, so needs more power – this problem does not exist on land. Your hovercraft design should not be susceptible to ploughing – some hovercraft nose dive more than others, and ploughing can eject you over the handlebars quicker than you can say “my hovercraft does not plough”

Hovercraft Safety

Make sure your hovercraft design has proper safety features such as fan guards front and rear – a home hovercraft project in New Zealand ended in disaster for one engineer, who started his hovercraft without fan guards – an unnecessary fatality.